Idea 10of 22Builds onOne number for a whole group
The mean: level the stacks
What would each have if everything were shared equally?
Today you'll discover
- how levelling out finds an equal share
- what the level is called
Think firstFive readers: 2, 3, 3, 4 and 8 books
If the readers shared out their books equally, how many would each have?
Decide first, then press Next. Watch the blocks slide from the tall stack.
Five stacks of blocks: Ari 2, Bea 3, Cal 3, Dev 4, Eli 8. Pieces slide off the top of Eli's stack into the gaps on Ari's, Bea's and Cal's stacks until every stack stands at 4, marked by a dashed line labelled mean 4. The last step shows four friends' stickers: 5, 1, 4 and 2.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
The mean is what each would have if the total were shared out equally.
LevellingStacks of 2, 3, 3, 4 and 8 level out at 4: the 8 gives 4 blocks, and the 2, 3 and 3 take 2, 1 and 1.
Easy to get wrongThe mean is not the most common value. The most common count here is 3, but the equal share is 4.
Key word
- mean
- the value each would have if the total were shared out equally; also called the average
Ready to use it?
- Level out stacks to find the mean.